Autopista to Lázaro Cárdenas Michoacán Cut

I and other Michoacán expats have been following the story of the damage to the autopista that runs from capital city Morelia to Lázaro Cárdenas, on the Pacific Coast. It's the principal conduit for travel to Zihuatanejo and other coastal beach areas. Right now, it's severely damaged in several places, as you may see in [this video| http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGwj7iciF00 ].

Although it seems that the old libre highway is still open, there may be obstructions to travel along that route. A well known Pátzcuaro expat related that it took her 7 hours to travel from Pátzcuaro to Troncones (just upcoast from Ixtapa, Guerrero,)

I should make it clear that the section of highway from Pátzcuaro to Morelia is unaffected. In fact, we were on it yesterday, with absolutely no problems. We also traveled to the hot springs of Araró, just north of Zinapécuaro, by way of the Morelia to MLM Airport toll road, and it was clear travel all the way.

(Other than a group of demonstrating students who had taken over the Zinapécuaro toll booth on the Guadalajara-Mexico City Autopista, demanding $50 pesos "donation". We gave them $5 pesos, and drove off. I was really annoyed by their action. Vehicles were backed up for considerable distance, (but not as much in our lane) by their fund raising.)